Trio of Late Nominees to Kentucky Oaks 138

Jemima's Pearl, third in the Grade II Fantasy, arrived at Churchill Downs on April 16. (Reed Palmer)

The 138th running of Churchill Downs’ $1 million Kentucky Oaks (Grade I), America’s premier races for 3-year-old fillies, attracted a trio of late nominees for its 138th running at Churchill Downs on Friday, May 4.

The late nominees to the Oaks, a 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-old fillies, lift the overall nomination total to 97 horses. All late nominations to the Oaks were accompanied by a $1,500 fee. Last year’s late nomination process attracted also attracted three fillies that included St. John’s River, a close runner-up to Peachtree Stable’s victorious Plum Pretty.

The late nominations to the 2012 Kentucky Oaks include:

Gillian Campbell and R Group Management’s Jemima’s Pearl, a Bob Baffert-trained daughter of Distorted Humor who started her career in Ireland and finished third in her most recent start to Oaks nominee Mamma Kimbo in the Fantasy (GII) at Oaklawn Park;

Jonathan Rey, Javier Sarmiento and Dante Zanelli Jr.’s Oaks Lily, who recently scored her first victory in eight races for trainer Timothy Hills in 1 1/16-mile maiden event at Keeneland. She had finished second in the filly division of the OBS Championships in Ocala, Fla. in her previous outing;

Supplemental entries to the Kentucky Oaks will be accepted at the time of entry, but those entries require payment of a fee of $30,000 and original and late nominees to the race are preferred over supplemental entrants. The Kentucky Oaks field is limited to 14 starters, with preference given to entrants that have accumulated the highest earnings in graded stakes races.